An instant lottery ticket vending machine configured to determine if its ticket bursters are improperly separating the lottery tickets received from the ticket drawers of the ticket drawer columns, and to make one or more adjustments and/or alert an operator if its ticket bursters are improperly separating the lottery tickets. In various embodiments, each of the tickets bursters includes a suitable ticket edge sensor configured to sense an edge (such as a leading edge) of each lottery ticket received in such ticket burster. In various embodiments, the lottery ticket vending machine includes one or more controllers configured to receive such signals from the ticket edge sensor and make such determinations regarding any adjustments and/or alerts, and to cause any such adjustments and/or alerts.

An apparatus and a method distributes printed slips or tickets that are obtained from a continuous strip of material in which the strip is cut by a stationary blade when the user tensions the strip by pulling an end thereof. A driven dragging roller that makes the strip advance in an intermittent manner is interrupted if a sensor detects that the strip is tensioned to be cut.

An apparatus and a method distributes printed slips or tickets that are obtained from a continuous strip of material in which the strip is cut by a stationary blade when the user tensions the strip by pulling an end thereof. A driven dragging roller that makes the strip advance in an intermittent manner is interrupted if a sensor detects that the strip is tensioned to be cut.

A lottery ticket dispenser bin includes a housing for receipt of a supply of interconnected lottery tickets. An electronic drive mechanism in the housing moves the tickets in a forward and reverse direction. A scanner is disposed within the housing at a location to detect a forward edge of a leading lottery ticket in the housing. A controller is in communication with the scanner and the electronic drive mechanism and controls the drive mechanism so that subsequent to the leading lottery ticket being dispensed out the slot, power is supplied to drive mechanism to generate a retarding reverse direction torque by a drive roller on an adjacent lottery ticket for a predetermined time period without reversing direction of the drive roller.

A lottery ticket dispenser bin includes a housing for receipt of a supply of interconnected lottery tickets. An electronic drive mechanism in the housing moves the tickets in a forward and reverse direction. A scanner is disposed within the housing at a location to detect a forward edge of a leading lottery ticket in the housing. A controller is in communication with the scanner and the electronic drive mechanism and controls the drive mechanism so that subsequent to the leading lottery ticket being dispensed out the slot, power is supplied to drive mechanism to generate a retarding reverse direction torque by a drive roller on an adjacent lottery ticket for a predetermined time period without reversing direction of the drive roller.

A lottery ticket dispenser array includes ticket bins, with each bin defined by a housing for receipt of a supply of interconnected lottery tickets. Each bin has an electronic drive mechanism that dispenses the lottery tickets therefrom. A slot is defined in the back side of each bin housing through which the lottery tickets are dispensed from the internal space, and a separation device is adjacent the slot. A calibration field is located relative to the slot such that the lottery tickets pass alongside the calibration filed in a travel path of the lottery tickets through the slot. An optical scanner is disposed internal to the housing at a location to read the marks in calibration field. Based on a position of a forward edge of a ticket in the calibration field, a control system determines an adjustment to a predefined length of the leading ticket to advance in a subsequent dispense cycle.

A lottery ticket dispenser bin includes a housing for receipt of a supply of interconnected lottery tickets. An electronic drive mechanism in the housing moves the tickets in a forward and reverse direction. A scanner is disposed within the housing at a location to detect a forward edge of a leading lottery ticket in the housing. A controller is in communication with the scanner and the electronic drive mechanism and controls the drive mechanism so that subsequent to the leading lottery ticket being dispensed out the slot, power is supplied to drive mechanism to generate a retarding reverse direction torque by a drive roller on an adjacent lottery ticket for a predetermined time period without reversing direction of the drive roller.

A lottery ticket vending machine configured to determine if lottery tickets received by a ticket burster from a ticket drawer of a ticket drawer column are connected by tape, and to take one or more actions if such lottery tickets are connected by tape. In various embodiments, each of the tickets bursters includes a suitable tape sensor.

A lottery ticket vending machine configured to determine if lottery tickets received by a ticket burster from a ticket drawer of a ticket drawer column are connected by tape, and to take one or more actions if such lottery tickets are connected by tape. In various embodiments, each of the tickets bursters includes a suitable tape sensor.

A ticket issuing system has a processor and a storage with instructions thereon. The storage stores a feature value table that associates and stores feature value data including feature information pertaining to biometric information and a feature ID for identifying the feature value data. The instructions upon execution by the processor, cause the processor to: acquire user feature information pertaining to biometric information of a user of a ticket to be issued; identify, from among the feature value data stored in the feature value table, similar feature value data for which a similarity with the user feature information satisfies a predetermined criterion to obtain a feature ID corresponding to the similar feature value data; and issue a ticket on which authentication information that includes the feature ID corresponding to the similar feature value data is recorded.